"Tick, tick, tick, ring ring ring!"

In fact, William's body clock sensed 6 a.m. before his alarm clock did. As a result, he rolled over to turn off the alarm clock, stretched out his arm, yawned loudly, and pulled on his pajamas.

"What a great holiday!" He said excitedly a few minutes later as he climbed out of bed and sat by the window, looking out at the drowsy earth bathed in the warm summer morning sunlight.

A sparrow flew by and greeted him. He waved back in a friendly way.

With a smile on his face, he turned back and glanced at the violet purple school uniform, which was written "Nankai High School".

"Excellent." He smiled, "The exam was finished yesterday. Then I can enjoy my summer vacation! I have to say that the past year was really unforgettable -- it was very interesting in terms of the entry education, the daily study and life, and the club activities. The most important thing is that our class has a super beautiful physics teacher as the head teacher! I don't think any other high school freshman in the universe has a chance to meet such a beautiful person!"

Their physics teacher, Li Ranran, often wore a pink dress to class, which succeeded in attracting the attention of the class in the first class. William still remembered her sweet voice and smooth writing on the blackboard.

"Come down for breakfast, boy!" Shouted his mother, Sally, from the first floor, as he tried to think of what Ranran looked like.

"All right!" He ran downstairs and went straight to the dining room. "It's really nice to have a villa," He thought as he went downstairs, "even though the space of each storey isn't that big. But I just love it."

Without saying a word, he grabbed a piece of toast and swallowed it. "Slow down, boy!" His father, Mighty -- yes, that was his father's name -- laughed.

"I'm really hungry, Dad." He said.

"But that's not the excuse for you to choke yourself!"

"All right, all right, I'll take my time. In fact, I ate so fast not only because I was hungry, but also because..."

"Because what?" Sally asked.

"Because the holiday begins today!" He replied excitedly, dancing with his toast in his hand.

"All right, all right!" His father laughed again, "Eat quietly!"

William nodded, suddenly remembering his parents talking to each other about their latest researches the night before. So he changed the subject to a new one, "Hey, Dad, I heard that your research has come up with some new results recently. Is that true?"

"Oh, you're right. I haven't told you about it yet. I have recently mastered a new technology that I think is a stepping stone for human exploration of the universe! Do you want to know?" Mighty was deliberately trying to keep William in suspense.

"Please tell me quickly!" He said, his eyes wide with excitement.

"Eh-hem!" He cleared his throat and continued, "As you know, the distances between the stars in the universe are so great that we can't imagine how long it would take us to reach them at the speed of previous space travels. And the theory of relativity restricts the speed of a spaceship, meaning that with limited energy, no matter what kind of propulsion you have, you can't get a spaceship to the speed of light, let alone beyond it. The latest work, however, suggests that humans will not be tied to Earth, the cradle of life, because of this. Our research has succeeded in distorting space! An electromagnetic field strong enough can warp the space around it. Yes, it may sound incredible, but it turns out that way.

"Well, if you're still confused, I'll explain it to you again. As we know, Einstein's theory of relativity states that nothing with mass can reach the speed of light. But the ship isn't moving itself -- instead, it happens to take advantage of the fact that mass or energy can warp space. And we know that matter has two forms of existence: entities and field, and this is the only difference between them. In other words, what makes sense to an entity also makes sense to a field. The spaceship is powered by electricity. The engine will generate a strong enough electromagnetic field when it is working. This field can cause the curvature of the space behind to decrease rapidly, and then the ship will be subjected to a force directed toward the greater curvature, which is the power of the engine. It's not actually the ship that has speed, so it can approach or even exceed the speed of light.

"This method can obviously be used for space travel. Just think of it: in a second you could fly past Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus, all the way to Pluto and even the edge of the solar system! This is so cool!"

"Wow!" Exclaimed William, "So a visit to Proxima Centauri in a week is not impossible?"

"Sure!" Replied Mighty.

"That's cool. I can't wait to try this technology now."

"Well, I didn't mean to stop you, son. This technology has just been cracked, and some of the methods are still unstable and need to be perfected." Replied Mighty seriously.

"Please, Dad! You are not ignorant of my character. What didn't I do when I was a kid? Once when I went to the United States to find Mom, I also went to climb the mountain alone! Didn't I come back safe and sound at last?"

"That's no good. After all, space travel is no joke."

William was about to give up in despair when Mighty said, "Unless..."

"Unless what?" William's bright black eyes twinkled again.

"Unless you can find an Earth-like planet and survive. The good news is that a few more suitable planets have recently been discovered, including one called α-3665D, which is located in a unique ternary system. The system consists of one massive red dwarf and two small red dwarfs. The more massive star is named α-3665A, while the other two stars are B and C. B and C alone form a small binary system, and these two together with A form a large binary system. So on planet D you will see one big sun and two small suns. According to the observations of the telescope, planet D has a period of revolution and rotation of 120 days and 30 hours respectively. And what's great about it is that its surface is an ocean about 5 kilometers deep! According to the analysis, the main rich elements on this planet are very similar to Earth, and the deposits of many minerals there are bigger than those on Earth. So I think if you really want to take a space trip, it would be a good idea to try to settle down on this planet."

"Great! That makes me want to go, Dad." William laughed, "I think I could build a really nice villa under the sea there!"

"That's certainly a good idea," Replied his father, "and I can see that you are so excited that you can't wait to leave Earth at once. Since your passion is unstoppable, I will give you this technology!"

"Really?" "That's right."

"Great! I can go to another planet! Yeah!" By this time William had been full. He jumped up from his stool and almost fell over.

Amid laughter, he got up a little shyly and asked Mighty, "So do I need to bring anything?"

"Nothing -- because I've already built the ship for you."

"Wow! Where is it parked now?"

"I'll give you a map later with marks on it. It's in an abandoned warehouse."

"Wonderful! I want to know when you will allow me to set out."

"Any time."

"Good! I want to go early tomorrow morning."

"No problem! But maybe you've also heard about your mother's new technology." Mighty said with a smile.

"Oh? Yes, Mom?"

"That's right, boy! Columbia University, where I work, has developed a hormone analogue that can accelerate growth and development. Just a few milligrams, and a six-or-seven-year-old child can mature quickly! These materials work in a similar way to hormones: they are transported to corresponding locations by the body fluid and recognized by the corresponding cells or glands. Then they secrete hormones, and that's how it works. The results in the preliminary experiments are very exciting, because it turns out that the material we developed is safe, cheap and efficient. I hope to see more and more synthetic materials like this serving people and bringing about a better life in the future."

"Wow! Could you give me some of this material?"

"Er... What are you going to do with it?"

"Nothing. I just thought that if I came across an endangered species on a planet during my space travel, maybe I could help save their lives."

"That's very kind of you, William. But as you know, the only planet with life is Earth."

"But there are limits to this conclusion! And I don't have to go to a particular planet! What if I do encounter an endangered species?" He said excitedly.

At his urging, Sally finally agreed to let him take 10,000 units of the hormone analogue. Just as he was exulting, Sally called him over and said,

"I think you're right about that. So I'm going to give you one more technology, and it's a technology that's proven long time ago -- cloning. If, as you say, you did meet an endangered species, you could try to get the nucleus of their cells first, because all you need to do is to retain the genetic information. I told your father to put the clone kit on the ship, and it comes with detailed instructions. I'm sure you'll understand. Good boy! Mom hopes that you may make your own unique contribution to the search for extraterrestrial life and the conservation of species diversity."

"Thanks, Mom!" He bowed low. Sally smiled kindly at him.

"Go," She said, giving William a special smile.

Confused but excited, William ran up to the third floor. He said to himself, "Having a 180-square-meter big villa has been a very rare thing, yet I didn’t expect that my parents are able to make such outstanding contributions! If they were not on the cover of Time magazine, I would go to get that editor-in-chief right! That is after the news goes public, of course."

He was about to go on saying when a note on his desk caught his eye:

Son,

Tomorrow is your birthday, so we have an extra surprise for you in that warehouse. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Mom and Dad

2135.7.14

"What surprise? Forget it. Let it go. I’ll know then." He said, sitting at the window again, looking out, and dreaming of the wonderful journey he was about to take.